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Thinner polystyrene

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unfiled : Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:02

ModellingThis is a microtipâ„¢ on how to make your polystyrene constructions a little thinner.


I recently bought a sheet of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for making some model scenery. The trouble I had is that it came in a 1" thick sheet, and I only wanted to make a base for a model. I tried various methods for carving a chuck of the HDPE thinner, but either ended up with cut fingers or a messy, rough and uneven finish on the base.


Enter the hot-wire cutter. I hadn't had much success with these things in the past, as they take a bit of getting used to, and I didn't think I'd be able to hold the thin sheet of HDPE, hold the cutter and at the same time smoothly push the HDPE through the cutter.


The simple solution was to make a poor-man's hot-wire bench-cutter! Simply place the cutter so that it's firmly secured to something (okay, I just layed it on the table) with the wire horizontal and level above a second surface. The second surface should be adjustable, which in my case meant placing paper/books/scraps/etc under it to reach the correct height.

Hot-wire cutter


The absolutely key thing here is to push the part through the wire firmly and smoothly. If you hesitate at any point, the heat from the wire will melt right through the part - it doesn't have to be touching it! Try it out on a scrap first, the cutter takes a bit of getting used to, when you first apply the part to the wire, it cuts through it very quickly due to the heat built up, once you're going though, you'll feel some resistance and it's much easier to judge.


Hot-wire cutter in action


 



As usual, get all your supplied of HDPE, wood, basing-materials, and all other modelling supplies from the 4D Modelshop.
The hot-wire cutter is one I bough from Games Workshop , although these should be available in any good model retailer.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 October 2007 11:03
 

Wishlist

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unfiled : Monday, 19 November 2007 16:01


It's that time of year again! So here's my list of goodies I'd not say no to, in case you're looking to give Santa some ideas...


(Alternatively: Ben's list, but he'd probably like anything on this page too)








Most of the stuff is on the Amazon Wishlist, mainly books and DVD's of course. Lots of bits'n'bobs on here. (They're in no particular order, just whatever Amazon decided to put them in)

Game Color Presentation Set


A new Game Colour Presentation Set of paints (£130) would be great. Best bought from em4miniatures probably

There are a few cool miniatures available from Games Workshop too, like Thorek Ironbrow and the Anvil of Doom (£25)


Thorek Ironbrow and the Anvil of Doom

 

Last Updated on Sunday, 06 January 2008 01:42
 

Portal

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unfiled : Thursday, 11 October 2007 11:32

Portal LogoWell, I played Valve's new Portal yesterday, and what can I say? Great fun! It's nice to see a game come along once in a while that does something a bit new, and isn't just another run-of-the-mill platform romper or FPS shooter (Halo 3 anyone?).


The atmosphere is great, you're a test-subject for a scientific research place studying these portals. The AI that guides you through is beautifully voiced by Ellen McLane (Half-Life 2 , Half-Life 2: Episode 1 ), starting off innocently robotic text-to-speechy and getting more and more manic as the game progesses. I don't want to give anything away to those that haven't played it yet (some spoilers are on the next page!) but let's just say that you don't always follow the path that GLaDOS sets out for you.

Portal


The end-credits have a great song sung by GLaDOS so stick with it, and in "commentary" mode you can play the levels but little speech-bubbles float in various places that you can interract with to get comments from various developers and Ellen McLane. I probably wouldn't suggest this mode from the start, it does give some spoilers to some of the puzzles before you've solved them.


Just remember. The Cake Is A Lie...

Spoilers follow!


The end-credits are great. The (now somewhat deranged) GLaDOS sings a little song, to the lyrics below. To get the audio too, just press the button:



Forms FORM-29827281-12



Test Assessment Report



This was a triumph.

I'm making a note here:

HUGE SUCCESS

It's hard to overstate

my statisfaction.

Aperature Science

We do what we must

because we can.

For the good of all of us.

Except the ones who are dead.



But there's no sense crying

over every mistake.

You just keep on trying

till you run out of cake.

And the Science gets done.

And you make a neat gun.

For the people wo are

still alive.



----------



Forms FORM-55551-5

Personnel File Addendum:



Dear <<Subject Name Here>>,



I'm not even angry.

I'm being so sincere right now.

Even though you broke my heart.

And killed me.

And tore me to pieces.

And threw every piece into a fire.

As they burned it hurt because

I was so happy for you!

Now these points of data

make a beautiful line.

And we're out of beta.

We're releasing on time.

So I'm GLaD.  I got burned.

Think of all the things we learned

for the people who are

still alive



----------



Forms FORM-55551-6:

Personnel File Addendum Addendum:



One last thing:



Go ahead and leave me.

I think I prefer to stay inside.

Maybe you'll find someone else

to help you.

Maybe Black Mesa...

THAT WAS A JOKE.  FAT CHANCE.

Anyway, this cake is great.

It's so delicious and moist.

Look at me still talking

when there's Science to do.

When I look out there,

It makes me GLaD I'm not you.

I've experiments to run.

There is research to be done.

On the people who are

still alive.



----------



PS: And believe me I am

still alive.

PPS:: I'm doing Science and I'm

still alive.

PPPS: I feel FANTASTIC and I'm

still alive.



FINAL THOUGHT:

While you're dying I'll be

still alive



FINAL THOUGHT PS:

And when you're dead I will be

still alive.



STILL ALIVE

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 October 2007 20:30
 

The Winding Road

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unfiled : Saturday, 08 December 2007 04:10

ModellingI've been trying to paint up a little squad of Space Marines for a change, but between the various scenic projects I've been working on I've not had much chance.  Probably because my painting is so poor, I find it far too easy to be distracted by some modelling...


So, I suppose it's not all that surprising that instead of getting down to details with my trusty Space Marines, I built a bit of road for them to pose on instead!



Eye-to-Eye with Space Marines



A Work In Progress


I didn't want this to become another one of those unfinished projects sitting around my home, so I thought I'd keep this simple.  Take two pieces of left-over Polystyrene, stick one piece on the other, then surface and done.  Well almost!


Here's what I ended up with at the end of the first session:





As you can see, fairly simple beginnings.  The brown road-surface is simply a piece of card with a sheet of fine-grain sand-paper stuck to it.  I did it this way, rather than just sticking the sandpaper to the foam, because I didn't think the paper would stick all that well and would be very difficult to get flat.  This seemed to work great.
The lines for the paving were just done with a pencil to give them a bit of depth, but as it turned out, I ended up covering the whole paved area with Milliput and sculpting it with that instead.  The foam just gives too furry a surface, and everything ends up with soft, rounded corners.


Once I'd rolled the Milliputed really flat for the pavement (tip: place the Milliput between two sheets of plasticard, with a little bit of cooking oil on both sides) and draped it over, I pressed lines into it using a small pen-knife.
Roughing up the broken ends of the paving slabs and poking in some bits of wire for reinforcement bars completed the sculpt.





Painting was pretty straightfoward (due to my limited abilities in this area) so consisted of the following:



  • Airbrush the whole thing black.  I use the airbrush because that way I don't either destroy a brush on the sandpaper or destroy the foam with solvent spray



  • Paint over the pavement with various shades of grey, starting fairly dark and getting lighter as I went



  • Masking off the road around the markings, using the torn edge of the masking-tape occasionally to give a more worn appearance



  • Paint the strips with some Citadel Foundation Deneb Stone (a light grey), you don't want to try and go from black to white with normal paints.



  • Paint a couple of coats of white on to all the stripes



  • Paint a couple of coats of yellow on to the side markings



  • The semen-stain in the gutter is actually Water Effect, that I hope will look like a bit of water once it's dried.



Oh, and the whole of the road-bed has a bit of steel tape underneath it, so my Space Marines stick to it nicely, thanks to their little magnet-bases.

Last Updated on Saturday, 08 December 2007 04:16
 

Films

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unfiled : Tuesday, 25 September 2007 00:13

DVD's


Simple really. Films I own, just in case I'm tempted while I'm out shopping and forget what I already have ;)

  1. 007 Golden Eye

  2. 007 Tomorrow Never Dies

  3. Alien

  4. Aliens

  5. Alien 3

  6. Alien Resurrection

  7. Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery

  8. Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me

  9. Austin Powers - Goldmember

  10. Batman Returns

  11. Batman

  12. Big Lebowski

  13. Blues Brothers

  14. Bourne Identity

  15. Bourne Supremacy

  16. Collateral

  17. Cool Running

  18. Crash

  19. Dirty Dozen, The

  20. Dirty Harry

  21. Fifth Element

  22. Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children

  23. Finding Nemo

  24. Ghost In The Shell

  25. Gladiator

  26. Gremlins

  27. I, Robot

  28. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

  29. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

  30. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

  31. Kelly's Heroes

  32. Kill Bill Volume 1

  33. Kill Bill Volume 2

  34. Kingdom of Heaven

  35. Layer Cake

  36. Long Good Friday, The

  37. Look Who's Talking

  38. Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

  39. Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers

  40. Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

  41. Master and Commander

  42. Matrix, The

  43. Matrix Reloaded, The

  44. Matrix Revolutions

  45. Me, Myself & Irene

  46. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

  47. Monty Python's And Now For Something Completely Different

  48. Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life

  49. Ocean's Eleven

  50. Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl

  51. Planet Earth

  52. Planet of the Apes

  53. Police Academy

  54. Star Wars IV

  55. Star Wars V

  56. Star Wars VI

  57. Starship Troopers

  58. Sting, The

  59. Studio Ghibli - Pom Poko

  60. Studio Ghibli - Howl's Moving Castle

  61. Studio Ghibli - Princess Mononoke

  62. Studio Ghibli - Spirited Away

  63. Terminator

  64. Terminator 2 Judgement Day

  65. Tom and Jerry Classic Collection

  66. Wayne's World

  67. Where Eagles Dare

Last Updated on Thursday, 18 October 2007 19:04
 
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